LETTER: Statistics bear out U.S. gun violence

In his letter, "Paper perpetuates gun ignorance," Sonny Reitz points out that countries like Great Britain and Canada have smaller populations than the U.S. and thus should be expected to have smaller rates of gun deaths.

Let's see: by the figures he supplies us, Great Britain has a population roughly one-fifth that of the U.S. One hundred gun deaths there times five would equal 500 gun deaths a year if our populations were equal. Instead, the actual number — around 12,000 deaths in the U.S. — tells us either that: 1) we Americans are 24 times more violent than the Brits or 2) This difference has something to do with the easy availability of firearms in the U.S. The choice between these two seems pretty obvious.

When compared to the rates of firearm deaths in other developed nations, our dismal record ought to make us sad, ashamed, embarrassed and eager to try to do something about it.